


Fishing for Answers

by Ellisama



Category: Fire Emblem Echoes: Mou Hitori no Eiyuu Ou | Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia
Genre: Comedy, Gen, Spoilers for FE15
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-29
Updated: 2017-07-29
Packaged: 2018-12-08 16:10:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,219
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11650101
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ellisama/pseuds/Ellisama
Summary: Upon hearing that his sister has entered an engagement with Alm, Conrad seeks him out for a conversation. It does not go as Alm had expected. Set during Act 6.





	Fishing for Answers

It was a calm day at sea, or at least that’s what the sailors kept saying despite the heavy winds and rough sea. In all of his eighteen years, Alm had never travelled by boat before, and while Celica's companions seemed to have no issue finding something to do on their seemingly endless ocean voyage to the land of Archanea, Alm found himself growing restless.

"Full House! Hand over that cash, Gray!" Tobin proclaimed enthusiastically, showing off his winning hand to his friends. With little else to do, they had resorted to playing cards on the deck. That way, Alm figured, at least they could see another attack coming this time, if Python was sleeping in the mast again instead of standing guard. 

Alm had just handed over his losses to Tobin when his eye caught no an approaching ship, but a man coming closer to his little group. Dressed in all white and wearing an ever serious scowl unless he was talking to Celica, Prince Conrad cut quite the figure. Well, at least according to Clair, much to Gray’s dismay. Whatever may be the case, there was no doubt about one thing, and that was that the Prince of the former Zofian Kingdom was heading straight for him.

"Prince Alm, I'd like to have a word,” he said after a curt bow, his tall figure casting an intimidating shadow over the sitting friends.

"Ah, alright.” Alm immediately scrambled to his feet and tried to make a graceful bow as well, but it didn’t come out half as polished as Conrad’s. He was still getting used to this entire ‘Prince of Rigel’ business, let alone being king of the Valentian Kingdom. “Y-you mean now? I mean, that’s fine. See ya later guys."

"Sure man, good luck man,” Gray said, a knowing smile on his face while Tobin quickly claimed ownership of the coins Alm had left on the ground.

Cliff muttered something about burials at sea, and that was when Alm decided he’d best get this over with as soon as possible, and he let the former prince to the captain’s quarters that he and Celica shared.

"Alright, what did you want to talk about Prince Conrad?" Alm asked after he closed the door.

"Just Conrad is fine,” the man said brusquely and then allowed a silence to fall between them, as if he was waiting for Alm to make his defense. When he didn’t, he resumed with a heavy voice. "It has come to my attention that you intent to make my sister your wife."

_ Ah _ , Alm thought, feeling the cold sweat form on his back. So this was  _ that  _ kind of discussion. 

"Yes, that is, if Celica still wants to of course. She does, right? Right," Alm ranted at an alarming pace, feeling like a young child under Conrad’s narrowed gaze. "I'm sorry I didn't ask for your permission, if that's what this is all about. But I mean it all happened so fast. I mean, the mood was right, the sunset was wonderful and it was kind of a spur of the moment decision, -"

"A spur of the moment decision?" His future brother-in-law cut him off bluntly, and Alm wondered how deep a grave he could dig for himself despite not even being on land.

He quickly threw his hands up and continued to spit out words as if his life depended on it. "I mean, I had been wanting to ask her for a while! She's my whole world and I love her more than Zofia and Rigel combined! I mean how could I not, she's wonderful and strong and so much wiser than me-"

"Calm down, Alm!" Conrad cut him off, barely hiding a … smile? Was that a smile? Was that the smile of a man who was going to kill him within seconds or was he missing something here. "If I can call you that, at least...?" He added after an awkward second in which Alm was too confused to speak.

"Y-yes, of course you can," Alm said quickly, and then realized that Conrad was indeed still alive and that he was very much still breathing. "Wait, you're not mad?"

Conrad looked at him strangely. "Why would I be? Anthiese has been over the moon ever since you proposed to her. And I've heard nothing but praise from everyone who speaks of you.” Alm privately wondered exactly who he had to thank. "Besides, she's an adult and can make her own decisions. If it is you she wants as her husband, than who would I be to deny her that happiness?" 

Alm took a deep breath and then released it, trying to calm his fastly beating heart. "You just looked so... serious. Threatening is more like it, perhaps." That, and this entire ‘relationship’ stuff was still such new territory to him that he’d rather face down another horde of Jedah’s summons than being forced to talk about  _ ‘husbandly duties’ _ with his grandfather.

"My apologies.” Conrad’s smile slipped from his face, but unlike before he seemed merely sad rather than like an ice cold, over-protective older brother. “During the war, I was forced to adopt a new personality that would better hide who I truly was. It's a mask I've worn for so long, that I sometimes slip into it without thinking."

"No need to apologize!" Alm pleaded quickly, allowing himself to fall into one of the chairs, relieved. "But then, why did you call me out?"

"We're going to be family soon! I thought we'd best get to know each other before you put a ring on my sister's finger and she takes up all of your time!" Conrad beamed happily, and Alm tried to think of all the ways in which Celica might be taking up his time after the wedding, or his future brother-in-law might change his mind about going easy on him. "I figured we could go fishing together or something. It's a good weather and there isn't much else to do on these ships anyway."

"I'm not much of a fisherman, to be honest. But I'd love to learn, nonetheless."

"That's the spirit! But for the record though, if somebody asks what happened today..,” Conrad trailed off awkwardly, moving his hand rapidly in the hope that Alm would catch his drift.

"Then you totally protected your sister's virtue and all that. Understood," Alm added quickly, nodding along with Conrad and privately wondering how he hadn’t seen the kindness in his eyes before. They weren’t so unlike Celica’s, who tended to come off as standoffish and cold before you got to know her, too.

With that out of the way, Conrad’s smile was back at full force, and before he knew it he was leading the way to the bow of the ship. "Now, the trick to catching a fish is patience, a good eye and the proper bait. You can't catch a swordfish with a worm after all!"

"Then how  _ do  _ you catch a swordfish?" Alm asked, closing the door behind him and sending a quick thumbs up to his friends when they walked past.

Conrad smiled sheepishly. "Honestly? No idea. Sage Halcyon always told me that there was still much to learn before I could move on to the advanced stuff. He mentioned something about cheese once, though..."

**Author's Note:**

> And that was my first completed FE15 fic! I really want to make a bigger contribution to the fandom, but I’m reluctant to post anything unfinished. I’m almost in the third trimester of my pregnancy and it hasn’t been easy, and my family has a history of early births so there is no telling how much time I’ll have in the near future for updates. I have been working on my WIPs, though!
> 
> I can’t picture Conrad as the stereotypical stern brother. He trusts Celica’s judgment, and probably would rather just get on good terms with his new family member. Award for most doting future uncle goes to…. But that’s a story for another time. Please let me know what you think of this!


End file.
